On Saturday, the Ukrainian authorities refused to let a photo reporter of the Rossiya Segodnya agency, Ramil Sitdikov, to this country
Ukrainian authorities will ban entry of the country’s territory for covering the Eurovision 2017 song contest by Russian reporters who have worked in Crimea and the regulation will stay in effect even if a reporter in question has an effective accreditation, Anton Gerashchenko, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada national parliament and an advisor to the country’s Interior Minister wrote in Facebook.
“None of the Russia reporters who have received accreditations for Eurovision but have encroached on the Ukrainian border in the past by illegally visiting Crimea will be able to enter this country’s territory,” he wrote.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian authorities refused to let a photo reporter of the Rossiya Segodnya agency, Ramil Sitdikov, to this country. Officials at the point of entry handed to him a notification on denial of entry.
Gerashchenko said Sitdikov’s own photos, which one could find at the Mirotvorets extremis online portal, among other places, offered graphic proof of his trips to Crimea.
Authorities in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol held a referendum on March 16, 2014, regarding reunification with Russia. More than 80% voters turned out at the polling stations. Of that number, 96.7% voters in Crimea and 95.6% voters in Sevastopol voted in favor or reunification.
On March 18, 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty on accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. Both houses of Russian parliament ratified the treaty on March 21.
In spite of the highly convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea and Sevastopol as Russia’s constituent territories.